SynthesisMedicine2020
Radiofrequency ablation versus microwave ablation for early stage hepatocellular carcinoma: A PRISMA-compliant systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Thermal ablation for early-stage breast cancer: cryoablation, microwave ablation, radiofrequency ablation, high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation, and laser ablation - a systematic review.Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2026Pooled it
- Review
- Prospective evaluation of the safety and efficacy of microwave ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma in Korean patients.Ultrasonography (Seoul, Korea) · 2026Article
- Anatomic sub-segmentectomy with single-session combined transcatheter arterial embolization/microwave ablation for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: preliminary results.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2025Article
- Radiofrequency ablation combined with immunotherapy to treat hepatocellular carcinoma: a comprehensive review.BMC surgery · 2025Review
- Review
- Understanding the role of radiologists in complex treatment decisions for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2023Review
- Review
- Review
- Immunotherapy for advanced or recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma.World journal of gastrointestinal oncology · 2023Review
- Ablation for Benign Liver Tumors: Current Concepts and Limitations.Journal of clinical and translational hepatology · 2023Review
- Clinical Results, Risk Factors, and Future Directions of Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Microwave Ablation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Journal of hepatocellular carcinoma · 2023Review
- Image-Guided Percutaneous Ablation for Primary and Metastatic Tumors.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- BCLC strategy for prognosis prediction and treatment recommendation: The 2022 update.Journal of hepatology · 2022Review
- Internal Jugular Vein Thrombosis After Microwave Ablation of Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis in Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma: A Case Report.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Article
- Intelligent Algorithm-Based Ultrasound Images in Evaluation of Therapeutic Effects of Radiofrequency Ablation for Liver Tumor and Analysis on Risk Factors of Postoperative Infection.Contrast media & molecular imaging · 2022Article
- Diagnostic evaluation and ablation treatments assessment in hepatocellular carcinoma.Infectious agents and cancer · 2021Review
- Advanced Techniques in the Percutaneous Ablation of Liver Tumours.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- How to Treat Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Elderly Patients.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSeveral randomized control trials (RCTs) were conducted to compare microwave ablation (MWA) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) over the years. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of RFA and MWA for early stage HCC.
methodsStudies were systematically searched on Emabse, Ovid Medline, PubMed, and Cochrane Library until March 20, 2020. Continuous variables and dichotomous variables were compared using weighted mean difference (WMD) and odds ratio (OR), respectively. For the comparison of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were extracted from univariate analysis or survival plots.
resultsA total of 26 studies (5 RCTs and 21 cohorts) with 4396 patients (2393 patients in RFA and 2003 patients in MWA) were included in our study. Of these patients, 47% received treatment under general anesthesia in the MWA group and 84% in the RFA group (OR = 0.529, P < .001). The median ablation time was reduced in the MWA group (12 minutes) compared with RFA group (29 minutes) (WMD = -15.674, P < .001). In total, 17.6% patients exhibited progression during follow-up in the MWA group compared with 19.5% in the RFA group (OR = 0.877, P = .225). No statistically significant differences were observed between MWA and RFA groups in terms of OS and DFS (HR = 0.891 and 1.014, P = .222 and .852, respectively).
conclusionsMWA exhibited similar therapeutic effects as RFA in the treatment of early stage HCC. Given the shorter ablation time, MWA can be performed under local anesthesia.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.